Congress Certified Bush Victory

Jan. 7, 2001 -- With Vice President Al Gore presiding over the ceremony, George W. Bush was declared the official winner of the tortuous 2000 presidential contest on Saturday.

“May God bless our new president and new vice president and mayGod bless the United States of America,” Gore said.

Saturday’s joint session of Congress was a constitutionalformality to tally the result of the electoral votes that wasinitially made on Dec. 18 in every state capital. To prevail, acandidate needs 270 electoral votes, a majority of the 538electoral votes of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

Democrats Protest

But the ceremony was disrupted by a symbolic protest organized by the Congressional Black Caucus, complaining that the vote in Florida was unfair.

One by one, 16 representatives, most of them African American, stood up to voice their objections.

Under the rules, they were notallowed to debate their claims and were quickly silenced by Gore amid grumbling from Republicans.

In a sometimes light-hearted exchange between Gore and some of the members, Gore rejected several motions to disband the session that is certifying the ElectoralCollege vote.

At one point, Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., among the objectinglawmakers, called out to Gore, “We did all we could.”

“The chair thanks the gentleman from Florida,” Gore respondedwith a smile.

The members also expressed outrage over the lack of support from Senate members. A formal objection to the proceedings would have required a member of the Senate to join the protest in writing.

After the protest, the 16 House Democrats filedout of the chamber en masse.

“One person, one vote must be more than empty rhetoric,” saidRep. Barbara Lee , D-Calif. “The right to vote is meaningless ifevery vote is not counted.”

”In defense of democracy, in defense of every American’s right to vote, [and] beyond the court-sanctioned injustices that we experienced in Florida, I feel that Vice President Gore won this election,” Hastings said. “While the rules may prevent the hearing of my challenge, they do not relieve me of my responsibility to the voters in my constituency who stood in line to make their voices heard only to find that their voices had been muted by injustice.”

Bush was far from the nation’s capital on Saturday, meeting with Republican governors at his 1,600-acre ranch in Crawford, Texas,to talk about the economy and proposals for improving schools.

Congress Could Have Been Final BattlegroundA month ago, some worried that Congress might be forced to choose between competing slates of Florida electors — one supporting Gore, and the other supporting his opponent, George W. Bush.

But because Gore dropped his challenge, he instead presided over a process that sealed his defeat and affirmed Bush’s election to the presidency.

As president of the Senate, Gore became the third vice president in history to preside over the congressional ceremony confirming his own defeat, following John C. Breckinridge in 1861 and Richard Nixon in 1961.

The counting of electoral votes before the joint houses of Congress is set on Jan. 6 by federal law. Originally, it was seen as one of the last possible deadlines to resolve the dispute between Bush and Gore over who won Florida and, therefore, the presidency.

However, after a U.S. Supreme Court decision made continued recounts of ballots improbable, Gore conceded defeat, and a slate of Bush electors certified by Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris became the only certified slate from Florida.

There remained the possibility of electors aligned with Bush voting instead for Gore, but never materialized (see web link on electoral votes). In fact, it appears the only surprise in the electoral voting was that a Gore elector from Washington, D.C. who did not cast a ballot, apparently in protest of the district’s lack of voting representation in Congress.

Making It OfficialOn Saturday, four “tellers” — one Democrat and one Republican from both the House and the Senate — announced the state-by-state electoral voting and a clerk will record it, according to Senate Historian Richard Baker.

Gore is expected to do all of the ceremonial speaking at the sealing of his presidential loss. He did not opt to turn the proceedings over to the senior senator of the majority party, as Vice President Hubert Humphrey did in 1969 after he lost the presidency to Richard Nixon. With Democrats controlling the Senate until Vice President-elect Dick Cheney is sworn in on Jan. 20, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.V., would preside if Gore opts out.

If both a senator and House member had endorsed a written challenge to electors, the joint session would have dissolved so both houses could debate the challenge separately.

In 1969, a challenge was raised after an elector for Richard Nixon voted for George Wallace. In that case, Baker says, both houses decided to take no action because the errant electoral vote did not affect Nixon’s victory.

But the final chapter of the tumultuous presidential race went largely as expected, and the 2000 election is now finally officially over.

ABCNEWS.com’s Michael James, ABCNEWS’ Tom Shine and Elizabeth Wilner, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.